Branson Trip

So this weekend was Steven and I's much anticipated road trip to Branson Missouri. It was a four hour drive straight south and on the way we stopped off to go to "crystal cave" similar to the other cave we went to in May, but this one was more on the primitive side. It was discovered in the early 1800's and not much has changed since the 1930's except for the lighting. We got a tour from a 91 year old gentlemen who took us with a few other couples and a big mennonite family. There was an old native american graveyard inside and some carved symbols on the walls from them as well. Pretty crazy how old that cave is. After that we went to Branson a town of 6'000 people - but astonishingly it was freakishly packed with tourists so that it was faster to walk than to take a vehicle....I thought that when people told me that Branson's traffic was bad they were just being extreme, but I have never been in traffic that bad that started early in the morning and ended at about midnight. It was crazy. I would compare it to New York (from what I have seen in the movies.) I think that the traffic could make it or break it for people visiting Branson. Thank goodness for our GPS that saved us many times and we found back roads that we never would have found if it wasn't for our navigation tool. ANYWAY, we went to a ventriloquism / magic show (very cool), ate at a diner where all the waiters and waitresses sang to you (some of them were even final contestants on american idol!) and went to a hollywood wax museum. We also went to the historic railway and boat landing on the river. We walked through "historic branson" and it was really enjoyable. Steven had crab for the first time (or at least he doesn't remember eating it before) at "Joe's Crab shack." On sunday we were invited by Brook and Scott from our church to join them at their parent's lake house. So we went boating, tubing, and swimming, and had a really nice time with them. Swimming in lakes down here is wonderful! The water is SOOO WARM! Like a nice bath! The funniest part about that day though was this dog named "gary" which was funny from the start, but he was about 5 pounds, 8 months and full grown. He had an underbite and a lion-looking face, but just this scrawny little thing, and he was always in trouble which was funnier because people were yelling "Gary! Stop that! Gary! Get outta here!" And he was such a trouble maker too. So it was all day long. And if you haven't figured it out yet, Gary is my dad's name, so that's why I found it so funny. Anyway, here are some pictures from our weekend, and the dog in the pictures is Gary. Pretty funny looking dog. (or rat some would say) So the weekend was a lot of fun and definitly worth the trip!